The transparency of another
national illusion has broken down again. And once again the usual devices are
used to deny reality and keep the illusion alive

Nine black people die at the hands
of a young white supremacist. He admitted his motive was to start a race war. And
still one half of this nation is twisting itself into contortions to protect
the illusion that overt racism wasn't the reason for his actions.

This illusion, "racism is not
deeply embedded in our psyche," is just one of our many national illusions that
were shattered that terrible day in South Carolina: "The Confederate flag is
just an historical artifact," "guns don't kill people," "this was just an isolated
action of an alienated individual who was not influenced by his culture," "this
was an assault on religious liberty, specifically Christianity" "Obama is the
cause of racism in America," and the best of them all, "this killer was disguised
to look like a white man. He was really black or Hispanic."

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So why are we so shaken when events
of this magnitude break down such a deeply embedded illusion? For one reason,
it has so many levels as I've listed above. And these are just a few. More will
emerge as the story provokes more people to shore up the newly created weaknesses
in their wall of denial.

Another
reason can be found in American Social Psychologist, Leon Festinger's, theory
on cognitive dissonance reduction. These horrendous acts create a great deal of
mental stress on the people exposed to them, i.e. the public. They raise the
very real need of having two or more contradictory beliefs or values at the same
time. An individual who experiences inconsistency (dissonance)
tends to become psychologically uncomfortable, and is motivated to try to
reduce this dissonance .
(source)

We strive for internal consistency so
we are driven to recreate the reality around us to fit what we already believe.
In other words, make up a story or reason that's consistent with our world view.
Ergo, refine the shattered illusion to fit what we believe.

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This is not unusual phenomenon here.
On a much less important scale we have all kinds reasons for transparency break-down
shock. For instance, when we find out a family values politician is having an
affair with a staffer or an actor who plays the pediatrician is discovered to
be a pedophile in real life.

But
there is a great deal of difference between the stories to defend an actor or
politician and those to keep the, "we're not a racist nation illusion" intact. Although
they all sound silly to some of us, the reasons to deny racism border on the
bizarre.

For
instance, "Attack on Christianity" in a nation where 77 percent identify as
Christians. Or "Obama is the cause of racism here" with a national history of
the violent spilling of the blood of black people for over 400 years? Then
there's "guns don't kill people" in a
nation where the annual gun homicide rate is triple
that seen in most of the world's other wealthy nations.

We have a societal illness that is destroying us from the
inside. It's an addiction to our illusions; illusions conflated into an exaggerated
nationalism. A nationalism so powerful as to eliminate critical appraisal of
our actual circumstances in favor of sustaining our illusions.

The despair I feel today is fed by an awareness that this unspeakable
event is one of a series of same that have been happening for centuries. And
the response is always the same. There is an outcry. The event is spun to gain political
advantage. The political divisions in the country will solidify even further.
Consequently, we will not be able to have a civil discussion about the
solutions.

Author, columnist, and blogger with a long career in business management, management consulting and executive coaching. I've authored and published seven books: "You, Your Self and the 21st Century,"The Flowers Are Talking to Me," and "Faith (more...)

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